United Way Puts Out an Emergency Call

Times are tough, so I was not surprised to see an announcement today from the United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut about a new charitable initiative it is starting. Most fundraising this United Way does is distributed in grants to area non-profits to fund ongoing work they do. But this new initiative, called GIVE NOW, is intended to be an emergency relief fund. The fund will provide money to area non-profit groups which in turn will use it for people who need help immediately to buy food, get shelter and pay heating bills.

Susan Dunn, president of the the Hartford-based United Way, said this is the first time she can remember the agency undertaking an effort of this kind.

"We've had hard times before but this is different in the sense that it is so widespread and the light at the end of the tunnel is not as near as we'd like," Dunn said. "With natural disasters we pull together and help one another. This is sort of what it's like now, except that it's an unnatural disaster."

The United Way serves 40 communities in the state. It's announcement of the new effort included some sobering statistics about just how needy people are and how many people in the area need help. One of the agencies the United Way supports is Foodshare, which provides food to many food pantries in Hartford and Tolland counties. According to the United Way, Foodshare distributed 500,000 pounds more food in 2008 than in 2007. That is a 14 percent increase.

Local pantries serviced by Foodshare report that demand for help has increased by as much as 100 percent from a year ago. The Manchester Area Conference of Churches runs one of those pantries. According to the United Way the MACC pantry served between 800 and 900 people per month this time last year. Now, that number has swollen to 1,700 or 1,800 people per month.

The United Way also runs a 211 telephone line where people can get information on a variety of sources of help. Just in December, there were 2,300 calls to that line from people needing information about energy assistance. That is a 52-percent increase from December 2007, when there were 1,500 calls about energy assistance.

New Britain, one of the neediest of the communities that the United Way serves, provides a snapshot of how badly the situation has deteriorated. United Way spokesman Dennis Buden said there was a dramatic increases in calls to the 211 help line from New Britain residents during 2008. He said there were 2,250 calls about energy assistance during all of 2008 from New Britain, a 40 percent increase from 2007. Then there were 865 calls during 2008 for food assistance, a 54 percent increase from the year before. And there were 1,500 calls for help getting housing, which was a 12 percent increase from 2007.

Dunn said the United Way plans on making its first grant on March 10. Even with word on the program just out, nine organizations have applied for funds, she said. Grants will be given every 10 days from March 10 through April 20 and Dunn said they likely will range between $2,500 and $10,000 each.

So far the United Way has collected $17,000 for the GIVE NOW effort and it is targeting small, individual donors. It does this by requesting $10 donations and asking people who donate on-line to forward the request to 10 friends. You can make a donation to the GIVE NOW fund on the United Way's web site, which also has a link that lets donors forward information about the campaign to friends. Dunn said the United Way is also hoping the campaign draws in a younger group of donors who perhaps have not given to the agency before. One way it is doing this is with a video on YouTube.

The United Way has also gotten help from local corporations. This includes a promise from Travelers to cover service charges that credit card companies charge so that all of the money donated that way will go to the GIVE NOW fund. Dunn said Travelers will also pay the United Way's overhead costs for the campaign so it does not have to take anything from people's donations.